The first-year head football coach at the U.S. Naval Academy has all the self-help coaching books, along with game videos, notebooks and a big white board for the X's and O's.

Ken Niumatalolo also has something else — the Gospel.

The Word of Wisdom and the Articles of Faith, he says, are as important as knowing how to operate the Triple Option offense or just when to executive an all-out safety blitz.

"Keeping (the word) sustains me," Niumatalolo said.

Ken Niumatalolo, head football coach at the U.S. Naval Academy

Keeping the word has sustained him for all his life, both personally and professionally, through the good times and the not-so-good, and it has given him his sense of direction.

And now he finds himself going in the right direction, though his climb to become the first Polynesian head coach in Division I football has not been without its challenges. Included was being fired as part of a coaching exodus in 1998, after his first stint at Navy.

The firing, he said, led him to accept a position at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and a spiritual awakening in Las Vegas, where he learned some very valuable lessons.

"Never have I doubted my faith," he said during a wide-ranging interview with Meridian Magazine, an interview that not only touched upon the importance of athletics in his life but also his membership in the Church, the importance of his family, and the role he finds himself as the leader at one of the nation's most prestigious institutions.

However, don't think of him as a novelty, a poster boy.

The Deseret Morning News of Salt Lake City noted that Niumatalolo's appointment should only be an indication that he can “flat-out coach,” but the storytellers and headline writers have made much of his background, an unavoidable fact and one Niumatalolo speaks with deep emotion.

“I am what I am,” he said,

The 42-year-old Niumatalolo moved into the head coaching position in early December, one day after former coach Paul Johnson decided to move to Georgia Tech and only a couple of days before Navy was scheduled to play Utah in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Johnson's departure hit hard, not only at Navy but also with Niumatalolo, who calls the former coach his mentor, best friend, confidant and father figure.

“I have so much respect and love for the man,” said Niumatalolo. “I was an island boy from Hawaii, and his offer to get into coaching changed my life. Our families are close. His wife and mine are best of friends. It is a lot deeper than people realize.”

Niumatalolo coached the Midshipmen in that bowl game, losing to Utah 35-32. It was his first game ever as a head coach and it all happened so fast, Niumatalolo admits, that the impact of being a head coach didn't hit him until after the game. He was, after all, pretty much in charge of the team's offense and shared the overall game responsibilities with other members of Johnson's staff.

But now it's his team, one he promises will continue to be competitive. From 1981 through 2002, Navy football teams had won a little more than a third of their games; Johnson's teams were 43-19 and appeared in five consecutive bowl games.

Coach Niumatalolo in action.

Niumatalolo's work under Johnson has included a little bit of everything — running backs coach, offensive line coach, offensive coordinator, associate head coach — and his promotion was natural.

The Navy had the nation's top rushing offense in four of the past five years, including a 351.5 yards per game average in 2007.

“We're going to try to do the same things,” Niumatalolo said, noting that the return of quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, who rushed for 834 yards and a team-high 12 touchdowns and passed for another 952 yards and eight touchdowns, and Eric Kettani, who rushed for a team-leading 880 yards and 10 touchdowns, already gives the team an offensive presence. Several other statistical leaders also return.

Becoming a head coach is a goal Niumatalolo has thought about for years, one he says that finally has come about "with the Lord's help."

"I've always believed it would be His timing, not mine, and that's always given me a lot of comfort," Niumatalolo said.

His roots in the Church are deep, no doubt the result of his upbringing in La'ie, Hawaii, where his father has maintained an active presence at BYU-Hawaii and the La'ie Hawaii Temple, fifth oldest in the world.

His father, Simi, is serving his second term as a bishop and his mother, Lamala, is involved in a variety of callings. The family also includes brothers James and Steve and sisters Molly, Sonja, Raelene and Janice.

“Let's see,” Niumatalolo said, “James is in the Army in Hawaii, Steve lives in Utah, Molly, Sonja and Raelene are in Hawaii and Janice is in Hayward, Calif. We all are very close.”

The family moved from American Samoa to La'ie when Niumatalolo was young, living in a small, tin-roofed house on stilts.

His father retired from the Coast Guard and has worked in food services at the Polynesian Cultural Center for 40 years. The family continues to hold tight to its Samoan culture and it has been noted that a get-together at the Niumatalolos' is a Hawaiian feast.

At home in Annapolis, the coach's family includes his wife Barbara, who he met at BYU-Hawaii, and children Alexcia, 17 (a member of the women's lacrosse team at Maryland), Va'a, 14, and Ali'i, 8.

“When I was (at the University of Hawaii),” Niumatalolo said, “I wanted to get into sports broadcasting. But Coach Johnson was there and talked me into becoming a graduate assistant. I was a communications major, and there's nothing more important than communicating, no matter what you do.”

That was apparent very early in his life, too, as Niuamatolo took on his various responsibilities in the Church, as a deacon, then as a teacher, then as a priest. Today, he is first councilor in the bishopric of the Broadneck Ward in Annapolis.

“I've never been shy, but I've never been very outgoing, either,” he said. “I spent my mission in Ventura (California) and that was an awesome experience. It certainly prepared me for what's happened in my life.”

He says that despite being glued to the hip of his companion, he thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of his mission. He believes that experience — along with attending seminary — is one every young man should make the most of, despite pressures from peer groups.

“It continues to help me in my day to day life, with my marriage, with my relationships with people — you name it,” Niumatalolo said. “I learned patience, especially after having so many doors slammed in my face, and I learned to look at people from a different perspective. It also helped me learn to manage my life, to budget my time. You know, there are things I do today that I learned on my mission.”

What the young people go through on their mission is very similar to what the Corps of Midshipmen go through at the Naval Academy,” Niuamatalolo said.

“The qualities here are very similar to the Church — integrity, character, work ethic and discipline. We want good kids here, too. The best,” he said.